I can't believe it's been 5 years.....
 

They're dedicating the memorial to the 12 Aggies that passed away and the 27 that were injuried tomorrow.

I remember those days like it was yesterday. I got in from work late, around 2 a.m. and went to sleep, exhausted from a long day of classes, Corps obligations, and work. 42 minutes later, they came running through the dorms, knocking on doors, yelling that Bonfire had fallen.

Still groggy, i thought it was a dream and rolled over and went back to sleep. When i woke at 6 for morning formation, i've never heard a Corps dorm that eeirely quiet. I stuck my head out of my door to catch an upperclassman on my staff coming back from stack.

"Kitso, grab your pot, Bonfire fell and there are still people trapped inside."

I went out there and sat, helplessly, with my Aggie brethern while cranes picked logs off the stack one by one. The fact that all the logs were wired together made it painstaking work and agonizingly long. We finally were able to help, after they picked logs off, we were able to move them. Corps and Non-Reg, male and female. I'll never forget the football team showing up and helping to move logs.

It was a surreal day. I went back to my dorm room, to find my cell phone full of messages from people that i hadn't heard from since i was in HS 3 years earlier. My grandmother in NY was the first to hear of the tragedy, when she was getting up for work and had called my parents. I spent the afternoon, watching the slow progress on our campus closed circut TV. My mom told me that there were cars pulled off on the sides of the interstates in San Antonio, people glued to their radios, weeping.

We had a memorial after that, and the UT student body president and VP came down to talk. We ceased to be rivals and were fellow Texans. Most of us knew people at both schools. Yell Practice, the night before the game, and Kyle Field filled with candles, remembering the lost. Maroon and white ribbons everywhere. The Longhorn band, at halftime of the ensuing game, raising A&M flags and playing Amazing Grace.

I remember walking out to the plastic barrier they set up around the fallen stack. People had put posters, flowers, cards, Bonfire pots, axe handles. The most moving tribute, a collection of Aggie rings...any Ags prized possession, which you work 4 years for, can't order until you have 95 hours, the worldwide calling card of Aggies, placed on a stand by the site. Left to remember friends and fallen comrades.

12 kids, losing their lives doing what they loved. We will never forget.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...olitan/2904846

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...olitan/2905294

I'll never forget one of my buddies from my outfit, who lost one of his good friends, weeping uncontrollably.

My beloved Aggieland has never been the same. We've lost a lot of our spirit, our uniqueness, our mark that set us apart from every other state university across the country. It hurts so much that i can't be there today, i was there for every other Bonfire rememberance. The one year rememberance, where we stood in freezing rain, holding candles, for 12 bell tolls. The year after, where fewer people braved the cold for another night of rememberance.

I still remember the Bonfire campusology that all fish in the Corps are required to memorize and recite on cue:

"Each year before the football game with t.u., Aggies gather wood and timber, to build a huge BONFIIIRE!! which symbolizes the burning desire to beat the HELLLLL out of t.u. and the undying spirit that all Aggies have for Texas A&M. The BONFIIRE!! is normally set ablaze the night before the game, when it is played at Kyle Field, and 2 nights before the game, when it is played in Austin, SIR!!"

For the Twelve:

HERE!

KS 361

never forget...

A good friend of mine at Baylor came in my room really early that morning and crawled in my bed with me crying. SHe told me what had happened and said one of her best friends was there and that they knew he'd been working on it that night. After going to class I came back to discover that he had been the last one they recovered from the pile. It was horrible. That same year, just a few months before, 4 Baylor students were killed at TAMU......one guy (a TEKE) and 3 freshmen girls. They were going to the TEKE house at TAMU and while they were waiting to cross the street someone fell asleep at the wheel and ran into them. It was a horrible first semester of college.

Kitso, I didn't know you were in the corps. I'm sorry for your loss, I know all too well what it's like to lose good friends.

I remember this-has it really been 5 years? I remember watching it on the news in a daze. I was shocked. A guy I was dating at the time, who went to U of H, was trying to get his fraternity brothers to drive to College Station to see if they could help.

I remember going to Bonfire my senior year in highschool-god, that was so much fun. It was such a Tradition.

This was such a sad time. :(

BONFIRE FOREVER! GIG 'EM AGGIES!

- from a usually unrepentant Sooner.

Damn, KITSO, 5 Years?

Lest We Never Forget!:(

Going South for Holidays, got a half way place to stop and relax for the evening? Let Me know, would be great to see ya!:cool:

Thank y'all for all your kind words. This is a rough time of year for all of us in the Aggie Family, and has been ever since that horrible night.

I had totally forgetten that the TKE house event was the same year as Bonfire. Weren't there other Baylor students that had passed away that year too? I lost a hometown friend in Februrary of 99 that went to Baylor who died in a wreck on her way back to Waco from College Station.

And yeah, I was in the Corps. That's what i blame my undying love and defense of Texas A&M on :D

KS 361

Yea, I think there were maybe 8 people total that year. It was nuts. I didn't know the girl in that accident, but yea there was that and a few others. All three of the freshmen girls in the TKE house thing lived on my hall. Anyway...........I understand your undying love and defense now. I almost got my arse kicked walking across campus one time, just because i'm clumsy...........i almost landed on a blade of grass near the corps dorms. sheesh. ;)

Actually, the only grass that's off-limits is the grass by the MSC. ;) And most rational Ags wouldn't harass a lady. Course, those Corps guys aren't the most rational of types. Well, except for Kitso of course :D

You step foot over there, and be prepared to deal with trouble, cuz you've just called down the thunda!! :D

Student Bonfire 04 burned Saturday night and from what i understand went off without a hitch. From what i've heard, as soon as the Bonfire lawsuits are settled, the new President will start meetings to determine if it should return to campus.

God i hope so.

KS 361

Well, it was my not so bright friend Kristen who told me I couldn't walk there. She's also the one who when we pulled up to Whataburger and saw the sign that said, "Condiments available upon request" looked at me and said, "they just hand those out here?" :o

Anyway, I hope the bonfire tradition comes back for good. Not that I like TAMU or anything ;) but it sucks when one of the school's biggest traditions gets taken away.